JAN  25  1955 


BX7/5C 


THE  MEETING-HOUSE, 

THE  MINISTER  AND  THE  PARSONAGE 

OF  MILTON,  MASS. 

TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 


John  Atherton  Tucker 
FEBRUARY,   1905 


f*  .FEB  20  1906 


THE  FIRST  PARSONAGE  OF  MILTON. 


In  the  Colonial  days  it  had  been  a  custom  almost  universal  for  the  Town 
to  build  the  meeting  house  and  care  for  the  running  expenses  of  public  worship, 
meeting  the  cost  by  taxation  as  one  of  the  ordinary  outlays  of  the  Town.  This 
method  prevailed  till  within  something  like  one  hundred  years,  when  denomi- 
nations with  other  beliefs  than  that  of  the  early  settlers  coming  in  it  was  found 
more  equitable  for  each  sect  to  maintain  its  peculiar  faith  at  its  own  expense. 

Before  this  change  of  method  took  place,  the  Town  of  Milton  on  four  dif- 
ferent occasions  had  the  experience  of  selecting  a  location  for  a  place  of  wor- 
ship and  erecting  a  building  suitable  for  that  purpose.  Milton's  first  meeting 
house  appears  to  have  been  built  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
while  our  Town  was  still  a  part  of  Dorchester,  and  the  name  of  Milton  had  not 
as  yet  been  given  to  this  part  of  the  parent  Town  south  the  Neponset.  The 
site  of  this  place  of  worship  is  said  to  have  been  at  the  junction  of  Adams 
Street  and  Churchill's  Lane,  and  this  view  would  seem  to  account  for  the 
unusual  wide  opening  of  the  lane  as  it  enters  the  main  street.  This  opening, 
according  to  the  "  History  of  Milton,"  page  192,  "  at  that  date  was  larger  than 
now." 

The  green  triangle  as  at  present  laid  out  at  this  spot  would  admit  of  a  build- 
ing 30  by  35  feet,  which  is  three  times  the  size  of  the  first  meeting  house  in 
Salem  built  in  1634. 

But  whatever  its  size,  and  whenever  or  wherever  built,  this  first  public 
building  in  Milton  served  as  a  place  of  weekly  devotion  for  the  early  settlers 
here,  and  also  for  some  of  those  from  the  nearer  parts  of  Braintree,  which  was 
our  next  neighbor  on  the  southeast.  The  Town  having  thus  provided  a  place 
of  worship,  next  turned  their  attention  to  the  securing  a  home  for  whoever 
might  serve  them  in  the  ministry. 

At  that  time  and  previous  to  the  coming  of  Mr.  Thacher,  the  minister  was 
hired  by  the  year  and  his  stay  being  uncertain  he  would  not  care  to  buy  land 
and  build  a  house  till  better  assured  of  remaining.  Probably  at  this  time  nearly 
every  house  in  town  was  occupied  by  the  owner  thereof.  The  custom  of  adorn- 
ing the  front  yard  or  window  pane  with  the  sign  "To  Let  "  had  not  as  yet  been 
introduced,  and  the  means  of  conveyance  was  so  scant  that  it  was  desirable 
for  the  minister  to  live  near  the  meeting  house. 

So  the  Fathers  feeling  the  want  of  a  parsonage  joined  together  and  secured 
a  tract  of  eight  acres  which  would  give  room  not  only  for  a  dwelling  and  door 
yard  but  also  a  garden,  orchard,  pasturage,  etc.,  these  being  necessary  in  con- 
nection with  the  scanty  salary  then  paid,  for  the  Parson  to  eke  out  a  living  for 
himself  and  his  growing  family. 

The  Town  came  in  possession  of  this  "  Ministerial  lot,"  as  it  is  called, 
Jan.  30,  1662,  and  previous  to  July,  1664,  had  built  the  parsonage.  From  that 
time  to  1680  the  Town  had  for  a  shorter  or  a  longer  term  four  and  perhaps  five 
different  men  to  serve  them  in  the  ministry.  Some  of  these  occupied  the  par- 
sonage.    Mr.  Emerson  was  here  two  years  or  more,  from  1666  to  1669. 

Next  came  Mr.  Wiswell  who  is  mentioned  in  the  "History  of  Milton"  as 
follows:  "In  Feb.,  1669,  a  committee  was  sent  to  Sandwich  to  treat  with  Mr. 
Wiswell  to  be  helpfull  with  us  in  the  ministry,  offering  him  ^60  per  year  and 
the  use  of  house  and  lands  and  liberty  to  cut  wood  for  his  own  use."  This 
"house  and  lands"  was  the  parsonage  and  the  ministerial  land  already  men- 
tioned.    Then  came  Mr.  Bouse  and  next  Mr.  Mighill,  who  was  here  in  1671 


and  remained  till  1678.  Then  Mr.  Man  succeeded  for  two  years,  till  Mr.  Thacher 
appeared  in  the  Fall  of  1680.  It  was  Sept.  10th  when  the  good  Parson  arrived, 
and  his  household  goods  were  taken  at  once  to  the  parsonage,  but  he  and  his 
family  spent  their  first  night  with  Mr.  Swift  and  the  next  day  took  up  their 
residence  in  the  ministerial  house.  This  was  Sept.  11,  1680,  and  here  they 
remained  till  Nov.  14,  1689,  a  little  over  nine  years,  when  he  removed  to  his 
own  house  on  Thacher  Plain. 

The  coming  of  Peter  Thacher  to  Milton  was  an  event  of  no  small  impor- 
tance to  our  Town.  If  there  is  a  tide  in  men's  affairs  that  shapes  their  ends, 
then  may  we  not  say  that  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Thacher  among  the  early  set- 
tlers here  and  his  pastorate  of  forty-seven  years,  earnestly,  kindly  and  wisely 
administered,  was  an  event  that  had  much  to  do  with  the  high  position  which 
Milton  holds  in  morals,  in  intelligence  and  in  prosperity  among  the  Towns  of 
the  Commonwealth. 

We  now  come  to  an  interesting  question  relating  to  the  history  of  our 
Town,  and  that  is,  where  did  the  house  stand  which  was  the  home  of  Peter 
Thacher  during  the  first  nine  years  of  his  pastorate? 

In  1633  Israel  Stoughton  obtained  a  grant  of  one  hundred  acres  on  the 
south  side  the  Neponset  River,  called  the  "  Indian  Fields,"  and  the  next  year 
he  built  a  mill  just  above  the  present  bridge,  where  Adams  Street  crosses  the 
river.  Mr.  Stoughton  died  in  1645,  and  eleven  years  later,  Jan.,  1656,  his  widow 
Elizabeth  sold  to  Roger  Billings  and  John  Gill  the  same  one  hundred  acres. 
The  following  description  of  it  may  be  found  with  Suffolk  deeds,  book  3, 
page  165  :  "All  that  parcell  of  land  called  or  known  by  the  name  of  The  Indian 
Field  in  Dorchester  aforesaid,  fenced  and  unfenced,  containing  a  hundred  acres 
more  or  less,  one  side  which  lyeth  next  a  river  called  Naponset  River  in  part, 
and  next  a  little  river  called  Robert  Badcocke's  River  towards  the  west.  The 
other  side  lying  next  the  land  of  Robert  Badcocke  on  the  east  or  southeast 
part,  one  end  butts  upon  the  land  of  Robert  Vose  which  lately  did  belong  to 
Mr.  John  Glover  deceased  on  the  south  or  southwest  part.  The  other  end 
butts  upon  the  said  Naponset  River,  the  stream  whereof  runneth  winding  on 
the  North-east  part." 

The  Vose  land  on  the  southwest  here  referred  to  was  a  lot  which  John 
Glover  received  as  a  grant  from  the  Town  of  Dorchester,  and  after  his  death  it 
was  sold,  July  5,  1654,  by  his  widow  Ann  Glover  to  Robert  Vose.  And  this 
was  the  homestead  of  Robert  Vose,  a  part  of  which  remains  in  the  family  to 
the  present  day,  a  family  which  from  first  to  last  through  two  and  a  half  cen- 
turies has  been  distinguished  for  excellent  service  in  both  town  and  nation. 

But  our  special  interest  in  this  Vose  estate  at  this  time  is  the  fact  that  eight 
acres  of  the  extreme  eastern  corner  was  set  apart  for  the  "  ministerial  lot "  and 
was  the  early  home  of  Peter  Thacher. 

The  deed  of  Robert  Vose  to  his  son  Edward,  dated  Sept.  18,  1683,  describes 
his  homestead  as  containing  seven  score  acres.  The  bound  on  the  south  was 
a  part  of  the  parallel  line,  which  line  passing  by  the  corner  of  Atherton  Street 
and  down  along  Canton  Avenue  and  Centre  Street  to  Vose's  Lane,  and  still  on 
straight  just  north  of  the  Blanchard  place  leaving  the  Vose  estate  on  the  north 
and  the  Blanchard,  Gardner,  Brown  and  Academy  estates  on  the  south  till  it 
strikes  Randolph  Avenue. 

From  here  till  it  reaches  Churchill's  Lane,  just  beyond  where  the  sewer 
crosses,  the  line  has  become  extinct  by  later  transfers.  The  abutters  of  this 
Vose  lot  on  the  east  were  John  Gill  and  Robert  Redman,  Gill's  land  lying  along 
the  northern  part  of  the  east  line  and  Redman's  along  the  southern  part. 

It  would  appear  that  this  east  boundary  line  was  not  like  that  on  the  south, 
one  continuous  straight  line,  but  that  here  on  the  east  side  and  southeast  corner 
an  offset  is  made  into  or  against  the  Redman  estate  of  ten  acres.  It  is  also 
probable  that  this  ten-acre  lot  or  the  larger  part  of  it  was  fenced  in  and  so 
somewhat  distinct  from  the  main  tract,  although  immediately  adjoining  to  it. 
A  portion  of  the  south  part  was  and  still  is  a  swamp,  though  some  improve- 


merit  has  been  made  to  it  by  filling  in  from  a  near-by  bank.  When  this  tract 
was  conveyed  to  the  Town  it  is  called  a  field  of  eight  acres  more  or  less.  We 
assume  that  the  enclosing  fence  did  not  take  in  the  swampy  part  of  the  lot,  and 
this  accounts  for  the  amount  being  eight  acres  instead  of  ten.  The  larger  part 
of  this  ministerial  lot  is  fertile,  with  a  southern  exposure,  and  sufficiently  ele- 
vated toward  its  northern  end  to  give  a  pleasing  view  of  the  higher  parts  of 
the  Town  to  the  west  and  south.  At  the  same  time  it  is  somewhat  protected 
from  the  chilling  and  lung  inflaming  blasts  which  old  Neptune  sends  from 
his  briny  deep  across  the  marshes,  up  the  slope  and  over  the  summit  of  the  hill 
which  shelters  it  on  the  northeast. 

And  this  was  the  place  which  the  Fathers  of  the  Town  selected  as  a  choice 
and  proper  spot  for  the  home  of  whomsoever  the  hand  of  Providence  might 
send  to  them  to  break  for  them  the  bread  of  life. 

It  is  well  to  notice  here  that  this  lot  was  intended  for  a  parsonage  rather 
than  for  a  meeting  house.  It  is  called  the  Ministerial  lot,  and  was  set  apart 
with  such  buildings  as  might  be  erected  on  it  for  the  use  of  the  minister.  Let 
us  now  see  what  proof  there  is,  if  any  there  be,  for  the  claim  that  here  just 
west  of  Churchill's  Lane  and  on  the  southern  slope  of  Milton  Hill  was  the 
abiding  place  of  Milton's  first  Ministers. 

The  deed  from  Ann  Glover  to  Robert  Vose,  dated  July  5,  1654,  a  copy  of 
which  may  be  found  with  Suffolk  deeds,  book  2,  page  60,  after  describing  the 
main  part  of  the  estate  refers  as  follows  to  this  ten-acre  lot  : 

"Also  a  parcel  of  land  about  tenne  acres  more  or  less  lying  between  the 
calf  pasture  and  Robert  Redman's." 

There  is  an  old  wall  at  the  rear  of  the  Beck,  Emerson  and  Wood  estates 
which  was  probably  the  bound  on  the  west  of  this  ten-acre  lot,  and  the  land 
■on  the  southwest  side  of  this  wall  is  that  part  of  the  Robert  Vose  property 
called  the  calf  pasture.  The  calf  pasture  joined  the  ministerial  lot  on  the  west 
and  extended  down  to  the  rear  of  the  Sigourney  house. 

The  deed  from  Robert  Vose  to  the  Town  of  this  eight-acre  lot  is  recorded 
with  Suffolk  deeds,  book  4,  page  208,  and  reads  as  follows  : 

"This  deed  made  this  30th  day  of  Jan.  in  the  year  1662  betwixt  Robert  Vose 
of  Milton  in  ye  county  of  Suffolk  in  New  England  yoeman  of  ye  one  part  and 
ye  inhabitants  of  ye  aforesaid  Milton  of  ye  other  part  witnesseth  y'  ye  s'1  Robert 
Vose  for  good  and  valuable  considerations  in  hand  paid  hath  given,  granted, 
bargained,  sold,  enfeoffed  and  confirmed,  and  by  these  presents  do  give,  bargain, 
sell,  enfeoffe  and  confirm  to  ye  inhabitants  of  ye  town  of  Milton  their  heyers 
and  successors  forever  eight  acres  of  land  more  or  less  as  lyeth  within  the  field 
of  ye  said  Robert  Vose  in  Milton  aforesaid  bounded  with  ye  land  of  ye  said 
Robert  Vose  on  the  west  part  of  ye  same,  and  on  ye  south  with  a  swamp  be- 
longing to  ye  said  Robert  Vose  and  on  ye  north  side  ye  land  of  Robert  Redman, 
and  on  ye  east  part  yeland  of  Robert  Redman  and  part  ye  land  of  John  ffenno." 

We  have  already  noticed  that  the  homestead  of  Robert  Vose  was  bounded 
•on  the  south  by  the  parallel  line  which  extended  eastward  as  far  as  Churchill's 
Lane  and  also  that  Robert  Redman  was  the  abutter  on  the  east.  This  eight 
acre  lot  appears  to  have  jogged  into  Redman's  lot  so  that  we  are  bounded  by 
him  on  the  north  also.  The  swamp  here  referred  to  is  a  prominent  feature  in 
the  records  of  the  Vose  property,  being  mentioned  from  this  time  on  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years  in  the  frequent  transfers  among  the  heirs  in  the  several 
generations.  Robert  conveys  it  with  the  rest  of  his  homestead  to  Edward  his 
eldest  son. 

Edward  calls  it  a  pine  swamp,  and  gives  by  will  four  acres  or  one  half  of  it 
to  each  of  his  sons,  William  and  John,  on  condition  that  it  be  cleared  in  seven 
years  or  else  forfeited  to  the  other  brothers.  Some  of  it  may  have  been  cleared 
at  this  time,  though  portions  of  it  are  called  a  swamp  fifty  years  later,  and  still 
remain  unimproved  to  the  present  day. 


But  whenever  or  by  whomsoever  some  part  of  this  dreary  waste  was  re- 
claimed, it  could  then  be  utilized  as  meadow  land  either  for  hay  or  pasturage. 

Later,  and  before  the  more  general  use  of  coal  was  introduced,  the  dis- 
covery was  made  that  nature  for  long  ages  had  been  storing  up  and  buried  be- 
neath the  surface  the  waste  material  of  a  luxuriant  forest  growth  gathered  from 
the  surrounding  hillsides,  which  material  had  now  become  a  fit  and  proper  fuel 
for  domestic  use.  So  —  instructed  no  doubt  by  some  Celt  from  the  bank  of 
the  Shannon  —  several  of  our  townsmen  applied  themselves  to  the  preparing 
turf  or  peat  to  meet  an  increasing  demand  for  a  supply  for  the  kitchen  hearth. 
August  13,  1813,  three  small  lots  of  this  Vose  property,  which  as  a  swamp  had 
bounded  the  ministerial  lot  on  the  south,  were  set  off  and  sold  as  peat  meadows, 
one  containing  one  acre  and  the  other  two  a  half  acre  each. 

But  what  is  now  in  part  an  open  meadow  was  in  our  first  Pastor's  day  the 
dark  abode  of  mystery  if  not  of  danger.  No  doubt  the  hooting  of  the  owl  and 
other  cries  of  nature  in  her  dark  recesses  —  so  near  his  own  door-step,  too  — 
would  suggest  a  watchful  care  for  the  little  ones  of  the  household  so  helpless 
and  yet  so  dear. 

The  several  transfers  of  this  swamp  mentioned  above  fix  its  location  beyond 
doubt.  "  The  History  of  Milton  "  tells  us  that  the  first  of  the  Voses  —  Robert  — 
lived  in  a  house  situated  at  the  junction  of  Brook  Road  and  Canton  Avenue. 
This  in  after  years  was  the  home  of  his  son  Edward  and  later  of  Nathaniel  the 
son  of  Edward.  Nathaniel,  in  his  will,  mentions  "  my  part  of  a  swamp  lying 
southeast  of  my  house,"  and  in  the  inventory  of  the  estate  of  his  son  Nathaniel, 
Jr.,  is  mentioned  four  acres  of  swamp  lying  by  Samuel  Henshaw's.  The  pres- 
ent Academy  property  on  the  corner  of  Center  Street  and  Randolph  Avenue 
was  formerly  the  Samuel  Henshaw  estate,  and  was  itself  a  swamp  in  part  at  its 
lower  end,  being  divided  from  the  Vose  swamp  by  the  parallel  line.  This  es- 
tablishes the  view  that  the  swamp  referred  to  in  the  deed  by  which  Robert  Vose 
conveyed  to  the  Town  the  ministerial  lot  was  the  low  land  lying  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  near  where  the  sewer  crosses  Randolph  Avenue  and  extending  west  along 
the  rear  of  the  Academy  grounds.  And  as  the  eight-acre  lot  was  bounded  on 
the  south  by  the  swamp,  the  lot  itself  must  have  lain  just  north  of  where  the 
sewer  passes  through  and  took  a  part  of  the  tract  now  occupied  by  the  Weston, 
Johnson,  Apthorp  and  Peabody  estates,  on  the  east  of  Randolph  Avenue,  and 
by  the  Beck,  Emerson,  Wood  and  Sigourney  property  on  the  west  side.  If  the 
rear  bounds  of  the  more  northerly  of  these  were  extended  down  to  the  swamp, 
they  would  include  something  more  than  eight  acres  ;  or,  if  continued  to  the 
parallel  line,  would  enclose  a  larger  area  than  ten  acres. 

We  might  infer  from  this  that  a  tongue  of  the  Redman  lot  extended  across 
the  northerly  end  of  this  tract  at  that  time.  This  would  account  for  the  min- 
isterial lot  being  bounded  on  the  north  by  Robert  Redman.  But  the  identity 
of  this  location  is  not  dependent  alone  on  its  connection  with  the  swamp. 

The  deed  from  Robert  Vose  to  the  Town  describes  this  ministerial  lot  as 
being  bounded  in  part  by  Robert  Redman  on  the  east.  "The  History  of  Mil- 
ton "  states  on  page  131  that  when  Edmund  J.  Baker  was  making  a  survey  of 
Churchill's  Lane,  he  discovered  the  old  cellar  of  the  Redman  house  a  short 
distance  down  the  hill. 

The  Redman  homestead  contained  eighteen  acres,  bounded  on  the  north- 
east by  Adams  Street,  and  on  the  southeast  by  Churchill's  Lane,  and  it  re- 
mained in  the  family  over  fifty  years. 

Now  the  Red  men  as  a  race  were  migratory,  moving  from  place  to  place 
as  the  seasons  or  circumstances  suited.  They  had  "no  abiding  city,"  but  were 
wanderers,  owning  no  particular  spot,  or  rather  owning  any  spot  that  suited 
their  fancy.  Their  habitations  were  constructed  and  adapted  for  ready  trans- 
fer, and  a  few  hours  were  sufficient  to  remove  an  entire  village,  leaving  only  a 
few  smoking  embers  to  mark  the  place  of  their  last  encampment. 

But  Robert  Redman  was  of  a  different  race  and  of  a  different  tempera- 
ment, and  when  he  came  here  in  1652  and  selected  this  choice  lot,  extending 


from  the  summit  to  the  southern  base  of  the  hill,  he  came  to  stay ;  and  when 
his  allotted  years  were  fulfilled,  which  occurred  two  years  before  Mr.  Thacher's 
arrival,  he  appears  to  have  left  his  homestead  to  his  son  John,  who  occupied  the 
place  during  the  time  that  Mr.  Thacher,  his  next  neighbor,  lived  in  the  parson- 
age. The  line  of  wall  between  the  Cunningham  and  Peabody  fields  we  assume 
to  have  been  in  part  the  division  between  the  Redman  place  and  the  minister's 
home  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago.  Another  ground  for  giving  this 
location  as  the  lot  conveyed  by  Vose  to  the  Town  is  the  fact  that  it  is  bounded, 
as  the  deed  says,  "  with  ye  land  of  y°  said  Robert  Vose  on  ye  west  part,"  and  it 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  if  the  rest  of  the  Vose  estate  lay  west  from 
it,  then  the  lot  in  question  was  or  had  been  the  eastern  part  of  the  homestead, 
and  certainly  no  part  of  the  Robert  Vose  farm  would  so  well  meet  the  case  as 
this  lot  next  the  Redman  estate. 

Another  argument  in  favor  of  this  location  is  the  manner  in  which  Mr. 
Thacher  speaks  of  his  parishioners  in  this  part  of  the  Town  in  distinction  from 
those  more  remote.  In  his  journal,  as  given  in  "The  History  of  Milton,"  he 
mentions  in  the  various  entries  more  than  seventy  different  persons  residents  of 
the  Town,  and  more  than  half  of  these  he  calls  by  their  Christian  name,  —  as 
Jonathan  Gulliver,  Stephen  Crane,  Peter  Talbot,  etc. ;  while  to  some  he  gives 
the  title  of  Brother,  as  Brother  Clap,  Brother  Swift  and  others.  Some  he 
designates  as  Sergeant  and  Quartermaster,  and  the  older  ones  he  calls  Father, 
as  Father  Vose  and  Father  Gulliver,  —  while  quite  a  number  he  entitles 
Goodman,  as  Goodman  Sumner,  Goodman  Crane,  etc.  Again  a  few  he  honors 
with  the  title  of  Mr.,  as  Mr.  Holman  and  Mr.  Swift. 

The  following  quotations  also  show  his  kindly  courtesy  in  speaking  of  the 
fair  sex.  He  calls  them  "  My  Dear,"  "  Goodwife,"  "  Sister,"  "  Goody,"  etc.,  as 
appears  under  date  of  April  4,  1684 :  "  My  Dear  went  to  see  Goodwife  Jordan  and 
Goodwife  Crane,"  and  the  next  month,  May  6,  he  says  :  "I  went  and  prayed 
with  Sister  Haughton."  Nov.  6,  1681,  "Goody  Pitcher  died,"  and  Feb.  7  of 
the  same  year  "  Brother  Swift  was  at  our  house  all  day  to  wait  for  the  bring- 
ing of  the  minister's  pay  .  .  .  Widow  Wadsworth  paid  one  pound  in  linen 
cloth." 

Besides  all  these  there  are  some  seven  others  who  received  the  appellation 
of  "  Neighbor,"  and  neighbors  they  were  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word.  Of 
these  seven,  most  if  not  all  of  them  lived  in  this  part  of  the  Town.  Neighbor 
Daniels  lived  on  the  site  of  the  present  Glover  house  on  the  north  side  of  Adams 
Street.  This  was  something  over  a  half  mile  away,  but  that  was  not  very  far 
when  we  consider  that  the  good  Parson's  parish  was  over  five  miles  in  length, 
and  that  the  inhabitants  were  greatly  scattered. 

The  journal  referred  to  has  this  entry  dated  April  16,  1684 :  "  I  was  three 
times  at  Neighbor  Daniels  with  his  child  which  was  very  ill  and  died  that 
evening." 

Another  of  his  neighbors  was  John  Redman,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
lived  in  the  next  house  to  the  Parson,  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  road.  Under 
date  of  July  21,  1683,  we  read:  "Neighbor  Redman  cut  my  hair  and  trimmed 
me."  Now  the  fact  that  Peter  Thacher  calls  Mr.  Redman  neighbor  is  not  in- 
deed positive  and  final  proof  that  he  lived  next  door  to  him,  for  you  might  say 
that  the  good  Parson,  like  one  of  old,  was  large  hearted  enough  to  consider  any 
one  his  neighbor  with  whom  he  might  chance  to  meet,  even  though  a  stranger 
and  an  alien.  But  the  fact  that  he  called  him  neighbor,  which  is  a  title  that  he 
gave  to  only  one  out  of  ten  of  his  parishioners,  is,  as  the  story  book  says,  a  cir- 
cumstance and  worthy  of  consideration. 

There  is  one  thing  more  to  be  noticed  which  has  an  important  bearing  on  the 
question,  and  that  is  the  relation  of  names  on  the  first  tax  lists.  In  the  early 
history  of  the  Town  the  Town  meetings  were  held  more  frequently  than  now,  and 
at  these  meetings  money  would  be  voted  for  special  outlays  and  not  a  sum  total 
at  the  March  meeting  for  the  entire  year,  as  is  our  present  custom.  These  ap- 
propriations would  require  special  assessments  and  special  collections.     The 


6 

selectmen  were  the  assessors  and  the  constables  were  the  collectors,  and  some 
years  the  constable  would  two  or  three  times  sally  forth  through  the  Town, 
being  careful  to  avoid  giving  offence  by  any  omission  in  the  performance  of  his 
official  duties.  Even  the  widows  were  called  on  for  their  mite.  The  only  one 
slighted  was  the  Parson,  whose  name  does  not  appear  on  the  list.  In  the  year 
1678  there  were  two  assessments  (according  to  the  "  History  of  Milton  "),  one 
of  sixteen  pounds  to  pay  the  town's  debts,  and  one  of  thirty  pounds  for  the  use 
of  the  minister. 

But  there  is  one  thing  about  these  early  tax  lists  which  is  of  more  moment 
to  us  than  the  amount  raised  or  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  put,  and  that  is 
the  manner  of  placing  the  several  names  on  the  list.  For  one  hundred  years 
or  more  in  the  early  history  of  the  Town,  the  selectmen  arranged  the  names 
of  the  tax-payers  in  rotation  as  they  made  out  their  list.  At  first  most  of  the 
inhabitants  lived  on  or  near  one  road  — "The  Country  Highway."  Beginning 
at  the  east  end  of  the  settlement  we  find  the  name  of  Henry  Crane  first  on  the 
list  year  after  year.  His  estate  was  the  limit  of  the  Town  in  that  direction. 
Next  to  him  was  Anthony  Gulliver,  and  soon  in  rotation  throughout  the  Town, 
one  after  the  other,  according  to  their  location. 

Knowing  as  we  do  through  other  sources  the  situation  of  some  of  the 
more  noted  homesteads  of  the  early  settlers,  such  for  instance  as  Rawson  and 
Badcock,  Belcher  and  Kinsley  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  town,  of  Glover  and 
Pratt,  of  Foye,  Swift  and  Hutchinson  on  Milton  Hill,  of  Vose  and  Clapp  in  the 
centre,  and  of  Sumner,  of  Billings  and  Crehore  in  the  south  and  west  of  the 
Town,  we  can  by  the  help  of  these  early  tax  lists  fill  in  the  vacancies  and  locate 
or  be  assisted  in  locating  the  residence  of  any  person  whose  name  we  find  on 
the  list.  Let  us  take  now  one  of  these  lists  as  made  out  by  the  selectmen, 
dated  Aug.  13,  1694,  and  tracing  that  part  of  the  centre  of  the  town  beginning 
at  the  head  of  Churchill's  Lane  on  Adams  Street,  and  following  down  the  lane 
to  Centre  Street  and  on  Centre  Street  to  Vose's  Lane ;  then  down  the  lane  to 
Brook  Road,  and  on  Brook  Road  to  Lincoln  Street,  and  through  Lincoln  Street 
to  Thacher  Street.  This  route  is  all  on  old  highways  existing  at  that  time, 
though  under  different  names.  The  several  abutters  on  this  route,  as  shown 
by  the  tax  list,  are  given  in  the  following  order  :  John  Redman,  Richard  Smith, 
John  Fenno,  Jr.,  Peter  Talbot,  Daniel  Henshaw,  Thomas  Vose,  Ralph  Hough- 
ton, Edward  Vose,  Robert  Badcock,  Henry  Vose,  Jonathan  Badcock  and  Ezra 
Clap. 

The  first  in  the  list,  John  Redman,  held  property  on  the  northwest  side  of 
Churchill's  Lane  from  Adams  Street  down  to  the  stone  wall  now  the  boundary 
between  the  Cunningham  and  the  Peabody  lands,  just  above  where  the  sewer 
crosses  the  lane.  The  Peabody  lot  or  a  part  of  it  is  the  east  corner  of  what 
was  then  called  the  ministerial  land.  Before  this,  and  also  afterwards,  it  was 
a  part  of  the  Vose  estate.  Redman  sold  his  parental  homestead  thirteen  years 
later  to  Nathaniel  Badcock.  The  next  in  the  list  is  Richard  Smith.  He  rented 
the  old  Parsonage  which  Peter  Thacher  had  left  five  years  before.  He  appears 
to  have  paid  the  town  three  pounds  a  year  rent,  as  we  infer  from  this  entry, 
copied  from  the  town  record  book,  page  147,  which  reads  as  follows  : 

"  An  account  of  the  rent  money  for  the  ministerial  house  for  the  year  /95, 
which  was  paid  by  Richard  Smith  being  55  shillings,  the  other  5  being  allowed 
him  for  the  towns  part  of  ground  rates  that  year." 

The  next  to  be  taxed  on  this  lane  is  John  Fenno,  Jr.  His  estate  lay  on  the 
easterly  side  of  the  lane,  and  would  seem  to  be  about  opposite  the  ministerial 
lot.  Robert  Vose  in  his  deed  to  the  Town  of  this  lot  describes  it  as  bounding 
John  Fenno  in  part  on  the  east.  Then  comes  Peter  Talbot,  probably  in  the 
same  range  as  the  Talbot  house  on  Pleasant  Street.  The  fifth,  Daniel  Hen- 
shaw, is  a  familiar  name.  The  Henshaws  had  their  homestead  on  the  corner 
of  Centre  Street  and  Randolph  Avenue.  Their  house  stood  where  the  first  of 
the  group  of  Academy  buildings  stands,  and    here   they  were  to   be  found  for 


more  than  a  century.  The  next  is  Thomas  Vose,  who  lived  on  the  south  side 
of  the  street  a  little  further  along.  The  seventh  is  Ralph  Houghton,  whom  we 
cannot  precisely  locate,  but  he  probably  was  not  very  far  away,  for  the  Town 
clerk  records  having  paid  him  eighteen  shillings  for  taking  care  of  the  meeting- 
house under  date  of  Feb.  20,  1695-6.  (Book  1,  page  146,  Town  Records.)  The 
record  reads  as  follows  :  "...  to  Ralph  Houghton  for  keeping  the  key  of  the 
meeting  house  and  sweeping  it  00  :  18  :oo."  The  meeting  house  at  this  time 
was  on  the  corner  of  Vose's  Lane  and  Centre  Street. 

Our  next  name  is  Edward  Vose,  who  owned  the  estate  on  the  east  side  of 
Vose's  Lane.  The  ninth  is  Robert  Badcock,  who  bounded  Vose  on  north  and 
west.  Next  comes  Henry  Vose,  who  afterward  lived  on  the  Thacher  Plain 
farm,  which  he  received  from  his  father  Thomas.  Then  we  have  Jonathan 
Badcock,  who  we  are  told  lived  in  the  Dudley  house  on  Brook  Road,  near 
where  the  road  crosses  the  brook.  And  last  in  the  list  is  Ezra  Clap,  who,  ac- 
cording to  "  The  History  of  Milton,"  lived  on  the  south  side  of  Lincoln  Street, 
about  half  way  between  Brook  Road  and  Thacher  Street. 

This  method  of  making  out  the  tax  lists  in  those  times  will  greatly  help  us 
in  locating  the  early  settlers  of  the  Town,  and  as  some  of  them  would  move 
from  one  part  of  the  settlement  to  another,  the  date  of  their  removal 'may  oft- 
times  be  fixed  by  consulting  these  lists.  But  while  this  method  answered  very 
well  in  a  small  community,  it  was  found  to  be  a  better  way,  as  the  population 
increased,  to  place  the  names  in  alphabetical  order,  a  custom  which  is  now  very 
general  where  long  lists  of  names  are  to  be  recorded.  And  this  latter  method 
has  been  adopted  by  the  town  for  more  than  a  century. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  this  ministry  land,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  we 
have  already  seen  that  it  was  part  of  a  grant  to  "  The  Worshipful  John  Glover," 
previous  to  1653,  and  after  his  death  it  was  sold  to  Robert  Vose  in  1654. 

Robert  conveys  this  eight-acre  ministry  lot  to  the  Town  in  1662,  and  about 
a  month  before  his  death,  Sept.  18,  1683,  he  deeds  his  homestead  to  Edward, 
his  eldest  son,  describing  it  as  follows  :  "...  all  and  every  part  of  his  farm 
where  he  now  liveth  containing  7  score  acres  with  all  the  dwelling  house,  barn 
and  outhouses,  bounded  south  by  the  ends  of  several  lots  namely,  widow  Sals- 
bury,  Walter  Mory,  Daniel  Henshaw,  Thomas  Vose  and  some  part  of  the  high- 
way, to  run  and  range  as  the  fence  now  stands,  all  through  where  there  is  a 
fence,  west  Samuel  Badcock's  land  partly,  and  partly  serjant  Badcock's,  and 
east  and  Northeast  by  Gill's  farm  and  partly  John  Redman's  and  the  ministry 
land."  Sept.  18,  1683.  (Book  40,  page  270,  Suffolk  Deeds.)  In  giving  the 
east  bounds  he  mentions  three  abutters  :  First  the  Gill  farm,  which  was  the 
most  northerly  of  the  three,  and  last  the  ministry  land  which  butted  on  the  line 
at  the  south  end  thereof.  It  was  in  the  year  1683  that  Edward  Vose  came 
into  possession  of  this  Vose  homestead,  which  had  for  a  part  of  its  eastern 
boundary  the  ministry  lot.  Sixteen  years  later  the  Town,  having  no  further 
use  for  the  said  lot,  sold  it  to  Edward  Vose  for  sixty  pounds,  and  he  in  turn 
bequeathed  it,  Feb.  13,  1714,  in  connection  with  the  easterly  part  of  his  estate 
and  four  acres  of  the  swamp,  to  his  son  William  Vose. 

Then  from  William  it  went  to  Edward,  and  from  him  to  Nathan,  and  next 
to  Josiah.  who  was  the  sixth  in  descent  from  Robert.  The  Voses  had  held 
title  to  these  premises  for  a  term  of  something  over  a  hundred  and  seventy 
years,  save  an  interim  of  twenty-seven  years,  when  the  Town  held  the  eight- 
acre  lot  for  the  use  of  the  ministry.  In  1825,  July  13,  Josiah  Vose  and  Ann 
his  wife  sold  to  Thomas  Hollis  all  this  eastern  portion  of  the  old  Vose  home- 
stead, consisting  of  seven  certain  pieces  of  land  lying  on  both  sides  of  Randolph 
turnpike,  including  what  had  been  the  ministry  land,  and  described  on  a  certain 
plan  by  Theophilus  Cushing.  The  deed  states  further,  that  the  same  consti- 
tuted the  farm  of  Nathan  Vose  which  descended  to  Josiah  Vose  from  his  father. 
It  being  intended  to  convey  all  the  premises  lately  owned  by  Nathan  Vose. 

Nine  years  later,  March  28,  1834,  Thomas  Hollis  mortgaged  this  same 
property  to   Asaph    Churchill,   describing  it  as  "  1 1  acres,  where   I   now  live, 


bounded  east  and  north  by  Dr.  Holbrook,  south  lane  (Churchill's),  west  other 
land  of  Asaph  Churchill  and  Blue  Hill  turnpike."  Also  six  acres  on  the  other 
side  the  turnpike.  This  eleven-acre  tract  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  turnpike 
included  some  land  south  of  the  parallel  line  which  was  not  a  part  of  the  origi- 
nal Robert  Vose  homestead,  but  which  the  later  Voses  had  acquired  in  after 
years.  The  house  here  referred  to,  where  Thomas  Hollis  lived,  stood  on  what 
is  now  a  part  of  the  Col.  Peabody  property,  near  the  Cunningham  boundary 
wall,  and  on  the  upper  side  of  the  private  way  that  crossed  from  Churchill's 
Lane  to  Randolph  Avenue.  The  house  was  burnt  a  few  years  ago,  but  the  de- 
pression in  the  ground  shows  where  it  stood,  and  the  well  is  still  to  be  seen  a 
little  nearer  the  Avenue.  The  age  and  history  of  this  Hollis  house  is  for  the 
present  lost.  It  is  said  to  have  been  an  old  Vose  house,  and  it  is  barely  possi- 
ble that  it  was  the  same  house  which  served  for  the  parsonage  in  Peter  Thach- 
er's  day.  From  the  records  of  conveyance  from  one  Vose  generation  to  another, 
and  from  the  descriptions  therein  given,  which  mention  the  house,  the  well,  the 
orchard  and  garden,  and  the  wall,  we  conclude  that  the  old  Vose  house  of  the 
line  of  William  stood  on  this  same  spot  which  we  know  to  have  been  the  site  of 
the  Hollis  house.  And  when  we  look  over  the  ministry  lot  as  we  find  it  in 
Mr.  Thacher's  day  it  seems  that  this  would  be  a  desirable  part  of  the  lot  to 
locate  the  house,  both  for  elevation  and  convenient  access  to  the  highway. 

It  was  in  1834  that  Thomas  Hollis  gave  the  mortgage  above  noted,  and 
nine  years  later  having  paid  it  he  sold  this  Vose  property  to  his  son  Thomas 
Hollis,  Jr.,  including  what  was  later  the  Beck,  Emerson,  Woods,  and  part  of 
the  Sigourney  estates  on  the  west  side  of  Randolph  Avenue,  and  on  the  east- 
ern side  all  of  the  Vose  land  which  Thomas  Hollis,  Sr.,  had  bought  of  Josiah 
Vose.  This  would  take  in  the  grounds  of  the  Weston,  the  Johnson  and  the 
Apthorp  property,  and  a  part  of  the  Peabody  field. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  outline  of  this  old  "  Ministry  lot  "  is  indicated 
by  a  stone  wall,  or  the  foundation  of  a  wall  now  in  part  removed.  It  would 
seem  that  these  lines,  if  continued  down  to  the  original  parallel  line,  might  in- 
clude the  ten-acre  lot  described  in  the  deed  from  Ann  Glover  to  Robert  Vose 
two  hundred  and  fifty-one  years  ago,  or  if  we  exclude  the  swamp  they  would 
give  us  the  eight-acre  parsonage  as  deeded  to  the  Town  by  Vose  in  1662. 

In  1S65,  March  8,  Thomas  Hollis  sold  the  house,  barn  and  the  surrounding 
land  to  the  amount  of  two  acres  and  twenty-two  rods  to  Alice  S.  Beck,  and 
July  17,  1868,  he  sold  to  Col.  O.  W.  Peabody  the  southern  part  of  the  Nathan 
Vose  estate,  amounting  to  seven  and  a  half  acres,  extending  some  fifty  rods  on 
Churchill's  Lane,  and  laying  on  both  sides  of  the  parallel  line.  Two  years 
later,  Gideon  and  Alice  S.  Beck  also  sold  to  the  same  purchaser  land  adjoining 
on  the  north  side,  including  the  house  and  barn  of  the  old  homestead,  bounded 
on  the  east  by  Churchill's  Lane  and  on  the  west  by  Randolph  Avenue. 

Since  the  house  and  barn  were  burnt,  this  last  lot  has  remained  vacant. 
The  only  indications  of  a  former  habitation  are  the  marks  of  the  cellar  and  the 
well  a  little  to  the  west,  while  along  the  easterly  wall  is  a  row  of  lilac  bushes 
still  thrive  and  bloom  as  the  seasons  come  round.  There  is  no  one  thing  of  its 
kind  that  is  more  often  seen  in  what  was  once  the  door  yard  of  the  early  set- 
tlers than  a  clump  of  lilac  bushes,  as  for  instance  one  found  near  the  old  Vose 
cellar  on  Gun  Hill  Street,  also  by  the  Babcock  cellar  on  the  corner  of  the  lane 
to  the  Town  Farm.  Another  example  is  the  row  on  the  road  in  front  of  the 
site  of  the  old  Clark  house  on  Brush  Hill  road.  They  have  outlived  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  Town.  The  hand  that  first 
loosed  them  from  their  native  soil  and  brought  them  from  over  the  sea,  and  other 
hands  that  cared  for  their  growth  and  gathered  their  first  fragrant  blossoms, 
were  long  ago  laid  to  rest,  and  the  dwelling  which  stood  by  their  side  has 
crumbled  in  decay.  Scarce  a  tree  remains  in  our  Town  that  was  living  in 
Peter  Thacher's  day,  and  of  all  our  grandmothers'  door  yard  adornings  the  lilac 
alone  remains.  It  is  self-renewing  —  it  ever  combines  youth  and  age.  As  far 
as  we  know  it  is  certainly  possible,  if  not  probable,  that  these  bushes  by  the 


wall  referred  to  were  there  in  the  day  of  Madam  Thacher  and  Lidia  Chapin. 
In  later  days  Nathan  Vose  lived  on  this  spot  and  wrought  as  a  blacksmith. 
He  had  his  shop  near  the  willow  tree  on  the  lane,  and  as  the  plow  turns  over 
the  sod  the  charred  cinders  which  had  collected  at  his  shop  door  may  still  be 

^"The  ministerial  house  or  its  successor  appears  to  have  heen  the  only  house 
on  what  was  the  eight-acre  ministry  grounds  till  Thomas  Hollis,  Jr.,  built  the 
Sigourney  house  about  1834,  aud  its  history  is  briefly  told  as  follows  :  Built  in 
166^-4  by  the  Town  for  the  use  of  the  ministry,  it  was  then  sold  to  Edward 
Vose  who  leaves  it  with  other  land  to  his  son  William.  The  will  in  part  read 
as  follows  •  "to  my  son  William  Vose  the  house,  barn  and  orchard  where  he 
now  dwells,  with  all  that  tract  of  land  and  meadows  which  said  house  standeth 
upon,  and  is  bounded  eastwardly  with  the  land  of  John  Redman,  and  partly 
northwardly  by  the  land  of  Mr.  Joseph  Belcher,  down  to  the  brook  till  it  comes 
to  where  the  old  fence  was  between  the  gate  and  the  aforesaid  brook  with  all 
the  meadow  lying  between  the  two  fields.  .  .  .  Also  I  give  to  my  son  William 
Vose  four  acres  of  that  pine  swamp  joining  his  own  land,  that  is  to  say  tour 
acres  next  his  own  dwelling  house." 

William  died  the  next  year,  1717,  and  his  children  Anna,  Ebenezer  and 
William,  Jr.,  convey  to  their  brother  Edward  their  share  in  their  father  s  estate 
which  contained  fifty-seven  acres,  including  upland,  meadow,  and  swamp  and 
buildings.  The  description  given  of  Edward's  property  at  his  death  shows  that 
his  house  stood  near  the  fence  between  his  own  land  and  land  of  William  Bad- 
cock  Mr.  Badcock  owned  the  Cunningham  field  on  Churchill's  Lane  at  this 
time.  A  deed  from  Edward  to  his  son  Nathan,  dated  July  6,  1769  (Book  1 15, 
pa°-e  138,  Suffolk  Deeds),  as  well  as  other  conveyances,  favor  the  view  that  the 
house  which  was  the  home  of  these  several  generations,  if  not  one  and  the  same 
building,  occupied  the  same  spot  from  Peter  Thacher's  time  down  to  our  own 
day  when  the  fire  swept  away  in  a  few  hours  what  had  been  a  shelter  to  young 
and  old  in  successive  generations.  The  deed  referred  to  reads  in  part  as  fol- 
lows •  "  I  do  hereby  .  .  .  grant  .  .  .  unto  the  said  Nathan  Vose  one  half  of 
my  dwelling  house  from  top  to  bottom  with  the  privilege  of  passing  and  reppass- 
ing  in  the  lane  or  pathway  from  said  house  to  the  highway  with  a  team  or  other- 
wise Also  yard  room  sufficeint  to  lay  fewel  and  other  necessaries  adjoining 
to  his  half  the  house.  Also  I  give  ...  to  the  said  Nathan  Vose  the  whole  ot 
my  shop  with  my  bellows,  anvil,  sledges  and  all  other  my  blacksmith  tools,  and 
also  my  garden  bounded  northeast  on  the  aforesaid  pathway  or  lane.  Southeast, 
Southwest  and  Northwest  on  the  oid  orchard  so  called.  This  deed  to  be  in 
force  at  the  close  of  the  natural  life  of  the  grantor."  Nathan  the  grantee  oc- 
cupies this  paternal  home  for  over  fifty  years,  but  before  his  death  he  provides 
for  his  three  unmarried  daughters,  Esther  Vose,  Permela  Vose  and  Miriam 
White  Vose,  as  follows  :  (See  Norfolk  Records,  book  4,  page  159.)  He  gives 
them  "the  east  end  or  division  of  my  dwelling-house  in  which  I  now  live  in- 
cluding the  cellar  under  the  same  and  the  fire  place  connected  therewith  and  a 
free  passage  to  the  same  through  the  front  door  and  entry  and  up  the  stairs  to 
the  chamber  and  the  use  of  the  well  of  water  near  said  house  and  the  pump  in 
the  same,  and  the  use  of  sufficient  yard  room  contiguous  to  said  part  of  said 
house  to  deposit  the  fuel  necessary  for  their  consumption  in  said  house  and 
also  a  free  passage  to  and  from  the  premises  from  the  public  highway  leading 
to  the  burying  ground  and  to  the  turnpike,  and  all  other  privileges  and  appur- 
tenances to  the  premises  and  necessary  for  convenient  improvements." 

It  may  be  well  to  mention  here  that  there  was  a  William  Vose,  Jr.,  who 
was  brother  to  Edward  and  uncle  to  Nathan,  who  lived  more  directly  on 
Churchill's  Lane  and  nearer  the  burying  ground.  The  signs  of  his  cellar  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  extreme  south  corner  of  the  Peabody  lot.  This  part  of  the 
late  Col.  Peabody's  estate,  which  William  occupied,  lays  south  of  the  parallel 
line  and  was  not  a  part  of  the  parsonage  grounds. 


10 

We  have  thus  followed  the  various  changes  of  ownership  in  this  spot 
around  which  so  much  of  interest  has  centered,  from  the  earliest  advent  of 
civilized  life  in  our  borders,  down  through  more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries 
to  our  own  day.  Most  of  those  who  were  occupants  here  were  tillers  of  the 
soil,  two  were  blacksmiths,  Hollis  was  extensively  engaged  in  granite  work, 
while  the  soldier  and  the  financier  help  complete  the  list. 

As  we  stand  today  in  what  was  the  door  yard  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  as 
we  in  fancy  restore  the  old  parsonage,  as  we  build  and  rebuild  the  quaint  old 
farm-house  and  recall  those  who  passed  in  and  out  of  its  portal,  we  feel  for 
them  a  respect  near  akin  to  reverence  as  we  imagine  the  procession  passing 
before  us.  First  comes  the  pioneer  with  his  gun  and  his  axe,  then  the  farmer 
with  his  oxen  and  his  plow,  the  Parson  with  his  gown  and  his  Bible,  the  sub- 
stantial official  with  his  dignity  and  his  badge  of  office,  the  merchant  with  his 
ledger  and  his  check  book,  the  blacksmith  with  his  ringing  anvil  and  his  shower 
of  sparks,  the  quarry  man  with  his  derrick  and  his  monuments,  the  soldier  with 
his  sword  and  his  epaulets,  and  the  banker  with  his  bonds  and  his  coupons, — 
these  with  their  associates  have  all  come  and  gone,  each  having  done  his  part, 
be  it  more  or  less,  and  have  bequeathed  to  us  a  heritage  which  is  more  than 
land  and  better  than  gold.  But  the  historic  spot  remains,  and  it  is  well  for  us 
to  tread  lightly  as  we  enter  the  enclosure,  and  to  cherish  the  memory  of  those 
who  have  called  these  premises  by  the  sweet  name  of  home. 

Before  leaving  the  scene  of  Mr.  Thacher's  early  domestic  experience  there 
are  a  few  incidents  that  may  well  be  noticed  in  this  connection.  Previous  to 
this  time  he  had  preached  a  while  at  Barnstable  and  his  removal  to  Milton  was 
in  the  Fall  of  1680.  Earlier  in  the  season  he  had  on  one  occasion  preached  as 
a  candidate  to  the  Milton  people.  This  was  June  17th,  and  the  next  day  a 
committee  of  the  church  gave  him  a  call  to  settle.  In  referring  to  this  invita- 
tion he  says  :  "  I  gave  them  encouragement  that  I  would,  but  prefixed  no  time, 
only  promised  that  I  would  write  them  word  when  they  should  expect  me  with 
my  family  after  I  got  home."  Probably  before  leaving  Milton  he  took  a  look 
at  the  parsonage  to  see  what  sort  of  a  home  the  house  and  surroundings  would 
give  him. 

It  was  Sept.  8th  when  he  with  his  wife,  daughter  Theodora  and  Lidia 
Chapin  (a  companion  and  helper)  left  Barnstable.  This  was  Wednesday,  and 
it  was  of  Friday  night  that  he  says:  "that  night  we  came  safe  and  well  to 
Milton,  thank  the  Lord  .  .  .  that  night  we  lodged  at  Mr.  Swift's  our  whole 
family."  Madam  Swift  would  gladly  place  her  silver  ware  and  spare  beds  at 
the  disposal  of  her  guests  and  feel  honored  by  their  presence. 

His  furniture  appears  to  have  come  by  water.  We  read,  "  Sept.  9th,  Mr. 
Barnabas  Lawthrope  began  his  voyage  to  Milton  with  my  goods,"  and  the  next 
day  he  says,  "  Mr.  Lawthrope  came  with  our  goods  and  Quartermaster  Swift 
got  them  all  into  the  house  that  night."  The  following  receipt  confirms  this  : 
"  Received  of  Mr.  Peter  Thacher  ten  pounds  for  transporting  his  goods  from 
Barnstable  to  Milton,  and  I  have  received  also  full  satisfaction  for  whatever  the 
said  Mr.  Thacher  has  at  any  time  had  of  me,  this  30th  day  of  November,  1680. 
Barnabas  Lawthrope."  The  next  day  Saturday  would  be  a  busy  day  arranging 
the  goods  and  getting  settled.  He  says,  "The  two  Blakes  lodged  there  all 
night  to  secure  the  goods,''  and  "divers  hands  came  to  help  us.  Goodman 
Tucker  brought  some  currant  wine  and  cakes  and  a  loaf  of  bread.  Goodman 
Crane  sent  a  cheese  and  an  apple  pie  and  some  turnips  and  bread.  Young 
Daniels  sent  a  quart  of  wine.  Mr.  Holman  a  quarter  of  mutton  and  some  to- 
bacco.    Mr.  Swift  brought  us  a  joint  of  roast  mutton  for  supper  &  some  beer." 

They  say  that  at  conferences  and  other  clerical  gatherings  the  ministers 
are  powerful  eaters,  and  verily  they  must  be  fed.  Two  weeks  later  "  Old  Good- 
man Vose  gave  me  a  barrel  of  cider  and  some  honey."  But  man  cannot  live  by 
bread  alone.  As  the  cold  came  on  fuel  was  needed.  November  3d  he  writes  : 
"Divers  brought  wood —  10  cutters  and  3  carters  "  ;  again,  the  22d,  he  says  : 


11 

"I  had  five  carts  carting  me  wood  —  Goodman  Sumner  and  his  cart  —  Good- 
man Tucker  &  his  cart,  Goodman  Man's,  Goodman  Crane  and  Widow  Wads- 
worth's  cart.  They  brought  ten  loads  and  supped  with  us."  But  the  cold  had 
already  come.  November  19th  we  read,  "extremely  cold.  I  lost  two  turkeys." 
Alas  for  the  poor,  frozen  turkeys— to  come  to  so  foul  an  end  and  to  go  into 
cold  storage  with  their  feathers  on  just  as  they  were  wanted  for  Thanksgiving ! 
A  week  later,  November  25th,  he  writes  :  "  General  Thanksgiving,  we  had 
at  supper  Goodman  Storer  —  Man  —  Tiffany  —  Salisbury  —  Jordan  —  Henchy- 
way  and  their  wives  and  Goody  Salisbury,"  thirteen  guests,  an  unlucky  num- 
ber ;  but  they  all  survived  it  so  far  as  the  record  shows.  This  was  Thursday, 
and  the  next' Sunday  Mr.  Thacher  preached  at  Dorchester,  probably  using  his 
Thanksgiving  sermon,  which  example  was  followed  by  Dorchester,  Dedham 
and  Milton  Parsons  sixty  years  ago,  they  always  exchanging  the  Sunday  after 
Thanksgiving.  .       . 

The  next  Spring,  preparations  were  made  for  the  ordination.  He  says  un- 
der date  of  May  30th  :  "They  made  an  arbor  to  entertain  the  messengers  of 
the  Churches."'  The  next  day.  June  1st,  he  says:  "This  day  I  was  ordained 
they  dined  at  my  house  in  the  arbor."  The  day  following  was  a  busy  day 
at  the  ministerial  house  off  Churchill's  Lane.  This  was  June  2d,  and  he  de- 
scribes it  as  follows  :  "  This  day  the  Church  and  most  of  the  Town  dined  with 
me  — after  dinner  we  sung  Psalm  22."  What  a  scene  for  a  snap  shot !  The 
various  groups  drawn  together  according  to  their  several  tastes  or  sympathies. 
Some  of  the  first  settlers  would  talk  of  changes  which  they  themselves  had 
witnessed :  the  primitive  forest  succeeded  by  open  fields  and  fruitful  harvests  ; 
the  meeting  house,  the  mill  and  the  shop  where  once  the  Indian  with  his  rude 
methods  and  savage  nature  had  been  the  sole  occupant —  these  they  would  talk 
of  to  each  other  or  recite  to  later  arrivals  in  the  Town  ;  while  some  would  with 
jest  and  mirth  enliven  the  occasion,  and  others  might  exchange  a  little  gossip 
or  comment  on  the  dress  and  manner  of  some  new  comer.  But  soon  there  is  a 
call  to  dinner,  and  they  gather  around  the  rude  tables,  and  the  loaded  dishes 
are  brought  from  the  house,  and  they  are  waited  upon  by  fair  maids  and  good 
appetites.  Later,  and  before  they  part,  they  sing  the  psalm.  Then  come  their 
congratulations  and  best  wishes  to  the  good  Pastor  and  his  "  Dear,"  and  the 
petting  of  Theodora  and  the  parting.  Never  before  nor  since  has  there  been 
so  large  nor  so  intense  a  gathering  on  the  eight-acre  "  Ministry  lot "  as  on  this 
the  second  day  of  June  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1681,  and  of  the  incorporation 
of  the  Town  the  nineteenth. 

To  what  extent  the  new  Minister  improved  his  land  is  hinted  at  in  some 
scattered  entries  in  his  journal.  April  7,  1683,  we  read,  "  Lidia  sowed  some 
seed  in  the  garden,"  and  May  18th,  "  made  an  end  of  planting  my  corn."  June 
Sth,  "we  got  some  tobacco  plants  &  set  them."  Then  August  1st,  "This  day 
I  had  three  &  twenty  reapers,  clivers  of  them  staid  not  to  dinner,  some  did, 
they  reaped  all  my  English  grain  by  noon."  And  again,  October  8,  ''This  day 
we  finished  gathering  corn,  got  it  all  into  the  house  that  night.  ..." 

What  repairs  were  needed  to  fence  or  buildings  were  probably  made  by 
the  Town.  He  says,  April  2,  1683,  "Sargent  Blake  and  myself  went  to  my 
pasture  and  righted  up  the  hedge,"  and  a  month  later,  May  4th,  "the  Select- 
men came  &  mended  my  fence."  November  30,  1681,  "Joseph  Tucker  came 
and  mended  my  study  door."  You  may  infer  what  you  please  from  this  ;  either 
that  his  frequent  calls  from  his  studies  had  kept  the  door  so  constantly  swing- 
ing to  and  fro  that  the  hinges  had  worn  out,  or  else  that  the  repeated  rapping 
for  admission  had  cracked  the  panels  and  so  required  the  repairs  called  for. 

Another  entry,  March  4,  1684,  reads,  "This  was  the  last  pay  day  for  my 
rate.  Deacon  Swift  was  here  to  receive  what  was  brought  in,  I  spent  much  of 
my  day  with  him  &  those  that  came  in."  That  the  land  was  not  barren  appears 
by  the  record  of  October  13,  which  says:  "In  the  evening  Brother  Clap  and 
his  wife,   Brother  Ephraim  Tucker,   Joseph    &  John   Redman  with  my  family 


12 

husked  out  20  bushels  of  corn."  But  a  bounteous  harvest  and  a  prolific  herd 
call  for  room  in  which  to  bestow  them,  so  the  next  month,  November  12,  he 
writes,  "  I  was  engaged  in  ordering  things  in  my  barn  in  order  to  make  room 
for  my  creatures." 

Of  his  domestic  life  and  habits  while  living  in  the  ministerial  house  there 
is  but  little  further  to  tell.  Of  his  family  on  his  arrival  in  Milton  he  mentions 
but  four,  —  himself,  his  wife  and  daughter  and  Lidia  Chapin.  The  servants 
might  have  come  some  other  way.  Three  children  were  born  to  him  while 
living  in  the  Parsonage.  Oxenbridge,  the  oldest  son,  was  born  May  1  lth,  1681, 
and  died  1772,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one.  He  was  eight  years  old  when  the 
family  removed  to  the  new  house  just  off  Thacher  Street,  and  in  after  years  he 
no  doubt  might  revisit  his  early  home. 

And  oft  he  might  fondly  picture  the  scenes  of  his  childhood  as  recollection 
would  bring  to  mind  the  events  of  those  early  days. 

The  door  yard  and  the  big  wood  pile,  the  dark  deep  well  and  the  dripping 
bucket,  the  garden  pathway  with  flower  and  fruit,  the  tall  corn,  the  ripening 
grain,  the  hay  field  and  the  meadow,  the  swamp  where  the  cramberries  and  wild 
grapes  grew,  the  tangle  of  horse  briar,  the  alder,  the  dogwood  and  trailing  vines 
in  the  lowlands  —  these  and  other  scenes  as  memory  would  raise  them  up  be- 
fore him  he  would  recount  to  his  grandchildren  as  they  gather  around  the  now 
aged  sire. 

But  these  scenes  thus  presented  would  not  seem  as  real  to  them  as  they 
had  to  him,  and  in  the  next  generation  they  would  be  entirely  lost  sight  of. 
Not  an  incident  remained  to  point  out  the  early  home  of  Peter  Thacher  on  his 
arrival  here  in  the  Fall  of  1680.  Those  who  cared  to  know  did  not  have  the 
data  at  hand  by  which  to  locate  it,  and  so  could  only  wonder  where  the  spot 
might  be. 

But  about  this  time,  that  is  to  say  some  fifty  years  ago,  there  began  to  be 
aroused  an  interest  in  things  of  the  past.  The  first  events  in  the  history  of 
the  Town  had  become  like  bottled  wine  of  sufficient  age  to  give  an  increased 
relish  to  their  discussion.  And  this  relish  in  the  history  (not  the  wine)  has 
still  increased  and  never  was  so  intense  as  at  the  present  day,  for  though  the 
increased  distance  renders  the  objects  more  obscure,  yet  that  very  "distance 
lends  enchantment  to  the  view."  The  past  two  centuries  have  wrought  many 
changes  on  this  old  "  ministry  lot."  The  good  old  Parson  has  gone,  — ■ "  and  who 
shall  declare  his  generation,"  —  not  one  of  his  line  remains  among  us.  Others 
have  entered  in  and  possessed  the  land,  have  builded  mansions  of  a  diverse 
type,  have  adorned  with  tree  and  shrub,  with  hedge  and  vine,  all  unconscious 
that  the  man  whose  hand  had  sprinkled  the  heads  of  two  generations  in  days 
long  past  had  this  same  ground  for  his  garden  and  orchard  —  his  grain  field 
and  pasture.  And  that  here  too  Madam  Thacher  and  the  fair  maid  Lidia 
Chapin  had  wrought  or  rested  and  watched  the  growth  of  plant  and  flower  and 
gathered  the  blossoms  and  fruit  as  the  seasons  came  round. 

And  now  though  boundary  lines  may  become  obscure,  and  of  "  endless  gene- 
alogies "  we  may  grow  weary,  let  us  ever  remember  with  proper  regard  Sep- 
tember 10,  1680,  the  day  that  brought  within  our  borders  so  diligent,  so  faith- 
ful and  so  kindly  a  leader,  —  Peter  Thacher,  the  first  settled  Pastor  of  Milton, 
in  the  day  when  the  infant  Town  so  much  needed  wise  counsel  and  frequent 
admonition.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  once  long  ago  the  then  familiar  faces  of 
Parson,  of  matron  and  of  maid  were  to  be  seen  in  and  around  this  old  Parson- 
age off  Churchill's  Lane. 

About  the  year  1683,  either  with  the  view  of  enlarging  his  farming  opera- 
tions or  securing  better  accommodations  for  his  increasing  household,  Mr. 
Thacher  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  house  for  himself  on  a  larger  estate  of 
his  own  and  somewhat  nearer  the  centre  of  the  Town.  As  in  doing  this  he 
would  relinquish  to  the  Town  the  use  of  the  Parsonage  which  was  assigned  to 
him  on  his  settlement,  it  would  seem  equitable  that  the  Town  should  render 


13 

him  some  assistance  in  building  his  new  house.  The  following  subscription 
list,  with  preamble  prefixed,  shows  the  purpose  and  spirit  in  connection  with 
this  effort : 

"Milton  :  14  :  iim  :  1683 
Forasmuch  as  by  the  good  providence  of  God  and  his  infinite  grace  and 
goodness  to  this  town  of  milton  we  have  received  as  an  act  of  His  special  love 
and  favor  to  our  souls  and  the  souls  of  our  children,  a  faithfull,  painfull  and 
affectionate  labourer  in  this  small  part  of  his  vinyard  whose  faithful  and  pious 
Labours  and  strenious  endevors  to  gather  in  souls  into  the  net  of  the  gospell 
we  desire  heartily  to  embrace  and  thankfully  to  receive  and  religiously  to  im- 
prove as  a  choice  blessing  from  the  hand  of  our  good  god.  And  in  token  of 
our  Reverent  Respect  and  best  love  to  him  who  is  a  faithfull  lover  of  our  souls, 
together  with  our  care  concerning  him  and  his  family  and  family  concerns,  he 
having  alreadie  purchased  and  intends  an  addition  of  building  (without  which 
it  would  not  be  convienent  as  to  his  settlement  upon  his  owne)  both  of  which 
coming  together  may  prove  a  burthon  too  heavie  for  him,  and  it  being  the 
custome  of  most  towns  And  as  we  conceive  a  law  of  the  Countrie  incuraging 
theirunto,  and  we  conceive  our  Reverend  Pastor  Mr.  Thacher  upon  the  acom- 
plishment  of  a  comfortable  settlement  upon  his  owne,  is  freely  willing  to  suren- 
der  up  to  the  towne  use  the  ministerial  house  and  the  land  about  it  to  the  use 
and  benefit  of  the  towne,  we  theirefore  whose  hands  are  hereunto  subscribed 
being  moved  hereunto  by  the  considerations  above  named  doe  promise  and 
hereby  engage  everyone  for  our  selves  to  contribute  to  the  charge  of  building 
aforenamed  according  as  it  is  underwriten  together  with  our  names  both  the 
sums  and  special 


NAMES 

MONT 

COUNTRIE 
PAY 

WORKE 

William  Blake 

0  -  10  -  0 

O  - 

IO  -  O 

O  -    IO  -  O 

Ebenezer  Clap 

01  -  10  -  0 

0  - 

O-O 

O  -      O-O 

John  Dike 

0  -    0-0 

0  - 

O-O 

O  -      4-O 

Timothy  Wall-s 

0  -    0-0 

0  - 

2-0 

O  -      6-0 

Nathan  Wall-s 

0  -    0-0 

0  - 

2-0 

O  -      6-0 

Ephraim  Tucker 

0  -  10  -  0 

O  - 

5-0 

O  -      6-0 

James  Tucker 

0  -  10  -  0 

O  - 

O-O 

I    -    IO  -  O 

Manaseh  Tucker 

0  -    5-0 

O  - 

5  -0 

0  -    s  -  0 

Roger  Sumner 

0  -    5-0 

O- 

5-o 

0  -  10  -  0 

George  Sumner 

0  -  10  -  0 

O  - 

10  -  0 

0  -  10  -  0 

Efham  Lyon 

0  -    0-0 

O  - 

0-0 

0  -    5  -  o1 

But  the  Town,  though  kindly  disposed,  moved  slowly  in  rendering  the 
promised  assistance,  for  six  months  pass  away  and  nothing  is  done.  So  the 
good  Parson  improves  a  favorable  opportunity  to  remind  his  people  of  their 
promise.  He  says,  under  date  of  July  n,  1684,  '-There  was  a  Church  meet- 
ing at  my  house,  I  put  them  in  mind  of  their  promise  fo  help  me  build,  so  they 
determined  to  speak  with  the  Town  about  it."  This  brings  results,  though 
tardily,  for  it  is  after  another  half  year  that  he  again  says  :  "  The  Church  met 
at  my  house  about  their  promise  to  help  me  build  &  after  much  discourse  they 
subscribed  £6  :  5  in  money,  £4  :  15  in  country  pay,  £5  in  work." 

These  efforts  and  the  Pastor's  own  resources  resulted  in  his  making  for 
himself  a  home  in  quite  another  part  of  the  Town,  and  his  removal  November 
14,  1689,  is  thus  referred  to:  "Myself,  wife,  children  &  family  removed  from 
Milton  Ministerial  house  to  our  own  house  and  God  made  me  very  earnest  in 
prayer  .  .  ,  that  God  would  .  .  .  please  to  come  under  our  roof  &  keep  our 
house  with  us  &  dwell  in  our  habitation."  The  renting  of  the  parsonage,  and 
later  its  sale  by  the  Town  back  into  the  Vose  family,  and  the  more  recent  trans- 
fers, have  already  been  alluded  to. 


14 

If  Peter  Thacher  were  to  revisit  the  ground  which  he  improved  during  his 
first  nine  years  of  life  in  Milton,  what  would  he  see  to  remind  him  of  the  for- 
mer days  ?  The  shelter  of  the  rising  ground  on  the  north  and  east,  and  the 
view  of  the  more  distant  hills  to  the  south  and  west,  and  the  near-by  swamp 
which  still  in  part  defies  modern  progress,  might  remind  him  of  by-gone  days. 
But  what  would  he  say  to  the  sewer  that  passes  near  where  once  stood  his  gar- 
den fence  ?  What  if  we  told  him  that  a  rushing  river  was  to  roll  unseen  far 
beneath  the  surface,  carrying  the  waste  from  hamlet,  town  and  city,  increasing 
in  volume  as  it  passes  till  far  out  beneath  the  ocean  wave  it  empties  itself  with 
its  germs  of  disease  and  impurity  ?  And  what  would  he  say  if  told  that  man 
who  thus  made  the  law  of  gravitation  to  serve  him  in  his  conception  of  sanitary 
service  had  also  utilized  the  same  law  to  bring  him  water  even  from  the  springs 
of  the  hill  country  in  the  heart  of  the  Commonwealth,  forty  miles  away,  and  by 
conduits  beneath  the  surface  convey  and  distribute  in  abundant  supply  from 
house  to  house,  and  even  to  his  very  bed  chamber,  that  fluid  which  he  had  so 
laboriously  drawn  in  "  the  old  oaken  bucket  "  ?  And  what  would  he  say,  too,  if 
told  that  man  who  had  made  the  law  of  gravitation  serve  him  in  sanitary  and 
domestic  economy  had  reached  forth  his  hand  and  caught  the  very  lightning 
which  crashes  from  cloud  to  earth,  or  rather  had  built  plants  where  he  draws 
that  lightning  out  from  nature's  laboratory,  and  sends  it  forth  in  measured 
quantity  to  light  by  night  the  highway  and  dwellings  on  these  same  parsonage 
grounds  where  the  tinder-box  and  candle  were  the  household  lights  of  his  own 
day  ?  And  what  when  told  that  this  same  destructive  power  when  tamed 
was  made  to  carry  along  the  wires  which  he  might  see  strung  from  pole  to 
pole,  or  buried  in  the  roadbed  of  Randolph  Avenue  beneath  where  he  had 
planted  his  corn  and  carrots,  unceasing  messages  between  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, between  towns  and  cities,  and  even  crossing  seas,  encircling  the  round 
earth  with  a  network  through  which  flows  the  larger  part  of  the  world's  inter- 
course, and  though  these  wires  lay  side  by  side  each  carries  its  own  message 
in  a  whispered  voice  to  be  heard  only  by  the  ear  for  which  it  was  intended  ? 

Ah!  what,  indeed,  would  the  good  man  say  to  these  things?  He  could 
only  ask,  "  How  can  these  things  be  ?  "  —  a  question  we  might  find  hard  to  an- 
swer. There  are  but  few  spots  in  our  Town  where  there  passes  so  many  of 
these  modern  innovations  as  beneath  this  same  ground  once  the  parsonage  of 
the  early  settlement. 

The  quotations  from  Mr.  Thacher's  journal  and  many  other  items  of  in- 
terest have  been  gathered  from  "  The  History  of  Milton."  But  as  no  journal 
gives  the  whole  of  a  man's  life,  and  no  history  exhausts  its  subject,  so  there  is 
room  in  the  Record  Hall  for  you  and  me.  If  you  fail  to  find  a  seat  you  can 
stand  ;  if  the  main  floor  is  full  you  can  go  to  the  gallery  or  the  belfry —  "there 
is  always  room  at  the  top." 

The  harvest  field  is  broad,  and  in  the  past  the  laborers  have  been  few  ; 
many  kernels  of  grain  have  been  lost  or  scattered  for  want  of  reapers.  Let 
the  gleaners  now  go  forth,  each  in  some  allotted  portion  gathering  incidents 
of  the  past  and  noting  events  of  the  present,  and  we  may  yet  "  redeem  the  time," 
and  transmit  to  our  heirs  and  successors  a  concise  appendix  to  "The  History  of 
Milton,"  as  written  by  her  sons  and  daughters,  and  her  Autobiography,  which 
will  record  her  early  struggle  —  her  upward  growth  — and  her  envious  position 
beside  her  sisters  in  the  Commonwealth. 


•  PHOTOMOUNT 

.PAMPHLET  BINDER 

J    Monuf  octurad  by 
4AYLORD  BROS.  Ins. 
J     SyroeuM.  M.Y. 
,  Collf . 


*m 


